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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 20-Jul-2014
20-Jul-14 World View -- Netherlands leads international outrage against Russia for airliner shootdown

Web Log - July, 2014

20-Jul-14 World View -- Netherlands leads international outrage against Russia for airliner shootdown

Why do Arabs have so many children?

This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

France reorganizes its troops in Africa
Netherlands leads international outrage against Russia for airliner shootdown
Why do Arabs have so many children?

France reorganizes its troops in Africa

Sahel region of western Africa (Economist)

Sahel region of western Africa (Economist)

France has about 3,000 troops in Africa, as peacekeepers in two trouble spots -- Mali and Central African Republic. France was a major colonial power in Africa, and so demands for further French help in controlling terrorism in Africa is growing, especially with the rise of Boko Haram in Nigeria and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). French presidents have tried in recent decades to reduce France's African involvement, known as Françafrique, but to no avail. France's current president, François Hollande, also tried to end Françafrique, but the rise of an insurgency in Mali and a potential genocide in Central African Republic have forced France to increase their forces, not reduce them.

Hollande is consolidating France's military effort into Operation Barkhane, headquartered in Chad's capital city, N'Djamena. From these headquarters, France will deploy troops, fighter jets, transport planes, drones, armored vehicles, and other military hardware in the anti-terror fight being fought across western Africa. France 24 and Economist

Netherlands leads international outrage against Russia for airliner shootdown

An editorial in the Amsterdam paper The Telegraaf calls Alexander Borodai, a leader of the east Ukraine pro-Russian separatist, and his cronies "Murderers," and criticizes Holland's prime minister Mark Rutte for not being aggressive enough in criticizing Russia's president Vladimir Putin for complicity in shooting down flight MH17 on Thursday:

"What has to happen before our government says 'we won't take this'. The Netherlands should be banging its fists on the table... the cabinet needs to make it clear to the world that we are seething with anger. This is terror, a war crime, mass murder!'
'The Netherlands is acting in this crisis as if it is a little country and that lessens the impact of the prime minister's words that he will not rest until the perpetrators are brought to justice.'"

An editorial in another paper says that peace in Europe has been built on the bones of millions of victims of nationalism, war and racism. Vladimir Putin, the paper says, is responsible for the return of echoes from the darkest period in European history.

At least 189 Dutch nationals are among the 298 people who were abord flight MH17 when it was shot down by a missile from eastern Ukraine, apparently pro-Russian separatists or by Russian military advisors.

These editorials come amidst stories that pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine are disrespecting and "dragging around" the dead bodies of Dutch victims of the plane crash, and dispersing their luggage and belongings. Rutte is calling images of separatists holding up children's toys "too disgusting for words."

Apparently the pro-Russian militias in eastern Ukraine are purposely contaminating the crash scene and destroying evidence, and desperately trying to hide complicity of Russia in shooting down the airliner.

An outraged Mark Rutte had a "very intense" and "very personal" phone call with Putin on Saturday. 'I told him "time is running out for you to show the world that you have good intentions, that you will take responsibility",' according to Rutte:

"It is absolutely necessary and the first priority that the recovery of the victims take place as soon as possible. Everyone who does not cooperate immediately and fully casts a very serious suspicion on himself.
I am shocked by the images of totally disrespectful behavior on this tragic place. Against all rules of a careful study, there appear to be people who walk around with the personal belongings of the victims, recognizable within the debris. This is downright disgusting. ...
I have just had a very intense phone call with the Russian president. I told him that time was running out, and he has one last chance ... to show the world that he does what is expected of him."

Dutch News and Netherlands government (Trans) and Netherland Times

Why do Arabs have so many children?

In my article last week, "13-Jul-14 World View -- Will Israel win the next war between Arabs and Jews?", I pointed out that the birth rate in Sunni Muslim countries since World War II has been approximately double that of other countries. I speculated that Sunni Muslims had a "gritty determination" to beat the West by having more children, and I invited a communication from anyone having a better explanation.

I received that following from a woman in United Arab Emirates (UAE):

"I was reading your article on the Israeli-Arab war, as you called it, and you noted the considerably high family sizes and birth rate among Sunni Muslims in the Middle East as likely related to a plan to “outbreed” the Christians and Jews or whatnot.
As a Sunni Muslim myself, I can give you some firsthand insight. Though this is not evidence in itself, for what it’s worth, I will tell you that I have never heard that suggestion (that we are trying to outbreed anyone) within my Muslim friend and family circles. Rather the cause of these high fertility rates is definitely rooted in Muslim culture itself.
Speaking largely for Arab families, we are heavily reliant on the support of extended family. It is not uncommon in the UAE, for example, to live in front of your in-laws, and I have seen my own grandparents nestling in neighborhoods alongside their brothers and sisters. It is a type of interdependence that is comfortable for Arabs, so much so that to any new generation saying they will not fulfill this duty to keep that big group of people to support on going by having a family themselves becomes an instant threat to the cultural fabric of that family.
I have grown up being told to have many kids so that they will be able to spread the message of Islam, similarly to how many yearn for sons to carry on the family name. It is natural for a people to want more of their kind.
Islam and Arab culture have been very mixed up in recent years— and may have been so for many years, in fact. The reality is that Islam respects the People of the Book (Christians and Jews). In theory we are to recognize their beliefs as key to our own. But in practice you know how far it is from the truth.
Anyway, hope you will find this insightful."

I thank this woman for being kind enough to send me this message.

There are two conflicting aspects to this concept, that Arabs always have large families as a cultural matter, to support one another and to spread Islam. On the one hand, it means that a lot of soldiers are available to win a war. On the other hand, it means that a lot more soldiers will be killed in the next war, when they will be used as cannon fodder. This is a subject that requires more research.

(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the 20-Jul-14 World View -- Netherlands leads international outrage against Russia for airliner shootdown thread of the Generational Dynamics forum. Comments may be posted anonymously.) (20-Jul-2014) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 20-Jul-2014 20-Jul-14 World View -- Netherlands leads international outrage against Russia for airliner shootdown

France reorganizes its troops in Africa

Netherlands leads international outrage against Russia for airliner shootdown

Why do Arabs have so many children?

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 20-Jul-2014
20-Jul-14 World View -- Netherlands leads international outrage against Russia for airliner shootdown